Originally built in 1816, the first Federal Point Lighthouse stood guard over “New Inlet” for almost 20 years. The second lighthouse, built in 1837, but dismantled in 1863 by Colonel Lamb and his soldiers during the Civil War to deprive the Union blockaders from such a handy target. The third light was built shortly after the Civil War, a short distance southward ….

Formed on March 28, 1994, for the purpose of bringing together persons interested in the history of Federal Point Township and who wished to make a contribution in documenting and preserving North Carolina history. read more

September 28, 1905 – At a meeting of the stockholders of the New Hanover Transit Company held on board the steamer WILMINGTON, a deal was consummated by which Captain J. W. Harper became the principal owner of the property on Carolina Beach where is located the pavilion and other buildings; also the railroad from the river pier to the beach including all rolling stock. The consideration was $12,000. (Wilm. Messenger, 9-29-1905) read more

There was a string of cottages next to Blue Top before 1940. The Army hadn’t come in yet. Walter Winner ran the Blue Top Cottages in ’37. Granddad ran it 38, 39 and 40. Granddad and grandmother moved in to an end cottage—the very first one on this end became an office and a home. – Compiled and edited by Ann Hertzlerread more

After the war, Mary Lee Tyler Fry and Therman J. Fry, aka “Fundy”, ran Fundy’s Restaurant in Kure. The restaurant was on the south side of the pier on K Avenue. Next door to Fundy’s was a little grocery store run by Linwood Flowers. Next door was the small post office. Fundy’s Restaurant was open in 1946 and 47. They had a serving bar with stools and probably just a few booths serving 35 or 40 people. Fundy’s menu is shown.

In the early 50‟s, Mr. Fisher was the Chief of Police. Mr. Christmas was the Constable and back then with not so much crime, no more police were needed. His black, private car with a red light set up with a siren was always parked just up from Bud and Joes [picture]. There was a sign, “Reserved for Chief of Police.” read more

Rebecca Taylor introduced the main speakers of the July 20, 2015 FPHPS Open Meeting , Peter and Cathy Meyer with ‘Coastwalk North Carolina‘.

Rebecca first met Peter when she was a New Hanover County librarian and Peter’s best-selling Nature Guide to the Carolina Coast was regularly stolen from the library by discerning patrons and regularly replaced by library staff as a must-have reference volume. Peter and Cathy have extensive knowledge of the North Carolina coast, and the Nature Guide is filled with photographs, drawings, and information on the flora and fauna of the region.

Cathy and Peter Meyer

Several years ago, Cathy proposed that the couple walk the entire length of the North Carolina shoreline. So, over the course of 18 months, the Meyers walked every bit of the North Carolina coastline (with the exception of off-limits Browns Island at Camp Lejeune), from South Carolina to the Virginia border: 425 miles of coastline along 21 barrier islands.

Tonight they presented an informative and inspiring talk—complete with numerous photographs, short videos, and shells and other artifacts they collected on their walks—to chronicle their forays along the barrier islands, which Peter referred to as “the necklace gracing the neckline of the mainland.”

The Meyers divided their presentation of their Coastwalk into four sections, based on the titles of their four e-books ‘Coastwalk North Carolina’:

The Meyers’ knowledge and appreciation of the Carolina coast was evident in their Coastwalk experience and presentation.

Their talk, incorporating both photographs and videos of the shoreline wildlife they encountered, as well as maps and diagrams detailing the logistics of how they completed sections of their walk, was varied, informative, and made several important points.

Some of their presentation highlights:

First, the North Carolina coastline belongs to all of us. According to the North Carolina Public Trust, all beach lands up to the vegetation line are public lands and we all have the right to access these beaches. That means there are no private beaches in North Carolina (unlike some other states) and we are all able to take advantage of the entire coast (with the exception of Browns Island.)

Second, Coastwalk North Carolina can be done in any way that works—as much or as little as anyone wants to do, or is able to do. The Meyers showed us various ways they put together pieces of their coastline walk: sometimes they approached a segment by car, sometimes by boat, sometimes with the assistance of a bicycle to keep from having to double back by foot to their starting point for the day. As Peter put it, “It is like the Appalachian Trail but shorter, flatter, kinder, great for beachcombers and the public can access every beach with the exception of Browns Island.”

Third, beaches should not become piles of rocks. They should be allowed to be the wide expanse of sand they are naturally, serving as barrier islands.

Finally, the Meyers reminded us to appreciate our coast for all that it is, and preserve it. As they quoted Thoreau, “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”

The presentation ended with a lively Q&A session. One of the young people in the audience asked if they considered doing a coastline walk from Florida to Maine and Peter answered that it was up to the questioner’s generation to make that walk. Passing it forward!

A small strip of land near Wilmington entertained thousands of visitors — some famous — during the Jim Crow era in North Carolina.

That was the allure of Seabreeze when it was a resort for African-Americans during the Jim Crow era. The place was born out of necessity: Segregation was the way of life then.

African-American men riding through Carolina Beach to access black-owned Bop City, now called Freeman Park, were required to wear shirts over their swimsuits. African-American swimmers could access the ocean from Carolina Beach on Mondays only, although it was directly across from Seabreeze.

Monte Carlo at Seabreeze

In many ways, Seabreeze and Carolina Beach, resorts separated by a half-mile — one for blacks, the other for whites — were in different worlds. Seabreeze, a nearly two-mile strip of unincorporated hamlet, was a busy seaside retreat tucked among mossy oaks and crape myrtles. It was the place to see and be seen.

Seabreeze was home to 31 juke joints, or taverns, where jukeboxes supplied the soundtrack of American culture and attitudes.

Seabreeze

…. then ….

Seabreeze, 2008

On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel blew in from the Atlantic. Hazel’s estimated 140-mile-per-hour winds and 18-foot storm surge devastated Seabreeze. The hurricane littered the sound with debris from trees torn from their roots; homes caved in or blew from their foundations.

Rather than rebuild, many property owners shuttered entire lots, hastening Seabreeze’s demise with the loss of businesses.

D Franklin Freeman PhD says:April 19, 2014 at 13:09Alexander Freeman was actually not a “Freed Slave” but a Free Person of Color i.e. Black and American Indian – our dates for him are 1788-1855. He is the son of Abraham Freeman (and a brother of my 6th Great Grandfather Moses Freeman) who is listed in the books as a Free Person of Color; and owned much land (thru land grants) around Columbus, Brunswick, Bladen and New Hanover, NC as well as Craven County, SC. We are apart of the currently named Waccamaw-Siouan and Lumbee Tribes. We are proud of our contributions to North Carolina. We just had family from Wilmington, Delco, Leland, Bolton and Buckhead visit our remaining family at Seabreeze last month. I hope that we are able to save this as a major part of North Carolina history.

Seabreeze was the black resort just up the coast across the Intracostal Waterway at Snow’s Cut. Originally called Freeman’s Beach from the 1920’s to the 1950’s, locals made a living serving black tourists with sandwiches, beer, and plenty of room for family picnics in the day and adult entertainment at night. Chicken Hicks found his way to Seabreeze in the early 40’s, returning often for white hot Carolina moonshine, and even hotter music on the piccolos (jukeboxes) at places like the Ponco, The Big Apple, the Daley Breezey Pavilion, Bruce’s, Ponco #2, the Monte Carlo, and as Jim recalled, “a place called Big Mama’s.” … more »»»

SeaBreeze had some boats that went across the water and you would dance til you got ready to come back over to this side.

It was an evening thing and a weekend thing, not an everyday thing. Everybody at Seabreeze worked weekends and holidays.

There used to be a place over there just for Blacks called Bop City. A lot of Black soldiers from Ft. Fisher used to come up to this neighborhood. Matter of fact, Dot’s sister married a soldier that used to be at Ft. Fisher in the service. Some of the Freemans married some of the guys that used to be down at Ft. Fisher.

Dot remembers Hurricane Hazel going through here tearing everything up. She saw the buildings from Carolina Beach floating down the Inland Waterway – refrigerators, stuff that come out of some of the businesses at Carolina Beach, furniture and big stuff from the houses came floating down the river. And at Seabreeze that water was almost to her mother’s house. … more »»»

“White kids from nearby Carolina Beach, such as Malcolm “Chicken” Hicks, would cross over to check out Seabreeze’s night spots and the local dance steps. Local historians such as Jenny Edwards — who wrote a master’s thesis on the history of Seabreeze for the University of North Carolina Wilmington — credit this musical cross-pollination with promoting, if not inspiring, the later crazes of shag dancing and beach music.” … more »»»

“Between the 1920s and the 1960s Freeman Beach\Seabreeze developed rich cultural traditions and history as blacks from across eastern and central North Carolina traveled for miles to experience the wooden dance floors and jukeboxes. With Freeman Beach they found a place to vacation, relax, and play. From the 1920s through the 1960s, the beach had three hotels, ten restaurants, dozens of rental cottages, a boat pier, a bingo parlor, and a small amusement park, complete with Ferris wheel. During the summer months thousands of visitors flocked to the area. ” … more »»»

“As I got older, I learned more of my family history.For all of us, the only thing worse than not knowing our history is believing we have no history. My parents were from a small farming town in the Wilmington area called Lake Waccamaw, located on the shore of the largest natural lake in the eastern United States by the same name. Some historians claim Osceola, the great war chief of the Seminole Nation (of mixed Native American and African ancestry) was born on Lake Waccamaw. The lake feeds south and into the great Okefenokee Swamp which stretches through Florida.

During slavery, many Africans and Native Americans escaped into these swamps. Their descendants cultivated farm land around the lake and throughout the Wilmington area. There is also a town in that area called Freeman, NC, founded by my grandmother’s great-grandfather, Alexander Freeman.

Following Alexander Freeman’s death, his son, Robert Bruce Freeman (b. 1830) inherited the land, and parlayed the investment to become one of the largest landowners in New Hanover county. In the 1920’s, [Robert’s heirs] began to develop a recreational community known as Seabreeze. During the Jim Crow years, Seabreeze was the only beach community in the state that black families could visit. When black people were forbidden from even traveling through Carolina Beach to get to Seabreeze, the Freeman family bought a boat to ferry people back and forth to the resort.” … more »»»